Cry Uncle
by San Antonio Rose
Summary: Adam and Judy Clay get a surprise visit one dark and stormy night from a distraught Barry Sanders, who comes with a bundle of joy, a tale of woe, and a worrying request for his old friends. (AU, sequel to "Thicker than Water," gen with background Adam/Judy and Bill/Lucrezia)


A/N: This story is a sequel to "Thicker than Water" and makes reference to its events; certain elements of this story will make more sense if you read that one first.

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Cry Uncle  
By San Antonio Rose

 _September 1983  
Beetleburg, Nebraska_

"All right, Max dear," Judy Clay concluded her weekly phone call to her daughter, who was now a sophomore up the road at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. "I'll let you get back to studying. Dad sends his love," she added with a glance at her husband Adam, who was holding up a sudsy one-handed _I love you_ sign and smiling from his post at the kitchen sink; there was a storm raging outside, and he was trying to get the dishes washed before it got any worse. "And you know I love you too. Bye, sweetheart."

 _All okay?_ Adam signed as she hung up.

"Yes, she's just got three exams next week, so she's nervous. But you know how she is."

He nodded. _Do fine._

"Like always." She smiled back at him. "Need my help?"

He shook his head. _Almost done._

"All right. Thank you, dear." She kissed his cheek. "I'd better get on with the mending in case this storm knocks the power out. I'm just glad we're not under a torna—"

She was interrupted by someone pounding on the front door.

"Whoever can that be?" Judy wondered as Adam whipped the towel off his shoulder to dry his hands, and they both started toward the door. "It's _pouring_! Why would anyone..."

Whoever it was pounded again. "Adam? Judy?!" called a voice she hadn't heard in months with an unmistakable note of desperation in it.

"Good Lord!" Judy broke into a run and called back, "Barry? Barry, is that you?!"

"Yes! Judy, you've gotta help me!"

Judy hurriedly unlocked the door and opened it to reveal a haggard Barry Sanders, holding what could only be a car seat with a rain cover over it. "Barry, what on _earth_ —why didn't you call first?!"

"It's a long story," Barry replied wearily and came in with his burden, which he set down in the front hall just long enough to take off his own slicker, put down the diaper bag that had been hiding under it, and accept hugs from both Clays, though he hugged Adam longer and more desperately than he'd hugged Judy. Then he took the dripping cover off the car seat to reveal a baby girl.

Judy gasped. "Now, who's this?"

"Her name is Agatha Teodora," Barry answered and picked up the car seat again as Adam waved him into the living room. "She's eight months old. She's Bill's—Bill and Lucrezia's, I should say." He set the car seat next to the coffee table and sank down on the loveseat with a heavy sigh.

Judy's mind was buzzing with questions—Bill had sounded overly cheerful at Christmas, had been uncharacteristically quiet since then and missed everyone's birthdays, but he'd never mentioned anything about Lucrezia being pregnant. And that didn't explain the state Barry was in, why he had the baby, anything. But all that came out was, "Can I get you some coffee?"

Barry shook his head. "No. No, thanks, I... I'm all right."

Adam and Judy exchanged a look as they sat down in their usual chairs. "What's happened?" Judy asked quietly.

"He's dead," Barry choked out. "They're both dead."

" _What?_ "

"Those rumors... all those rumors about Lucre-... they're true. They're all true." Barry took his glasses off and put a hand over his eyes as if trying to force the tears not to fall.

There was greater alarm in the glance Judy exchanged with Adam this time. They both knew the wild stories about the Mongfish triplets, and specifically about Lucrezia being a born witch. Serpentina had silenced most of the rumors about herself when she'd changed her name to Jill and run off with Ravi DuMedd to fight human trafficking in Bangalore, but Demonica had only partially distanced herself from the family upon marrying Pierre Malfeazium, and Lucrezia... never had really tried. She'd cleaned up her image somewhat by marrying squeaky-clean Bill and going to church with him on Sundays, but that was all.

Barry drew a deep, shuddering breath and put his glasses back on. "Guess I should start over. There's some stuff we never told you. When we moved the company to Virginia—has it been fifteen years now? Feels like a lifetime."

 _Yes_ , Adam signed. Bill and Barry had both begun developing unique concepts for defense hardware even in high school, and Sanders Brothers had become one of the leading companies in the field during Vietnam. Both brothers had been voted _Most Likely to Succeed_ in their respective classes, and they had the mansion—with a separate apartment for Barry that was nearly as big as the Clays' two-story house—to show just how well they'd lived up to it.

"Initially, we had Lucrezia running HR, but after a while we started hearing complaints about her ordering people to do things just to see if they'd do them—not even related to the job in any way, things like getting her coffee or flowers or... dressing up like clowns or standing on their heads until they nearly passed out. And it was never her victims who complained; it was always people who walked in and saw it happening. The victims always said they'd done it because they felt compelled, like... like they couldn't _not_ do it even if they tried. If she said jump, they started jumping before they'd even understood what she said. So we put her in a department where she wasn't in charge of anybody, and she still found people to push around. Well, I said that was a lawsuit waiting to happen, so Bill fired her, and we thought that was that—until a few years later, he found her doing it to the _servants_."

"The servants?!" Judy echoed.

Barry nodded. "He came home early one day and found the poor gardener in the sitting room on his hands and knees next to the sofa, with a doily and a Ming vase on his back."

Judy's jaw dropped.

"So he yelled at her, and she promised to stop, but then a few years after that he caught her _again_. This time, he told her point blank that slavery was illegal and that if she was going to keep treating people that way, he'd downsize to a bungalow and not even give her a cat."

Adam's lips pursed in a silent whistle.

"That... that seemed to get through to her, and as far as we know, she stopped. Although... that was about the time Dad and the Wulfenbachs were killed in that car crash. Never put the two together until now—I—I mean, there's no way to prove it, and it's kind of a moot point now, but..."

 _Barry_ , Adam interrupted.

Barry dragged a hand down his face. "Right, right. Anyway. After Dad's funeral, things... seemed to calm down. Business was going pretty well, even with the Defense Department's budget cuts and the recession and all. We got some contracts from NATO, the IDF, some other friendly governments. We were all... doing okay. And then... last year? Year before? Bill and I were talking, and he... he said... he had everything he wanted but a child, and I said maybe if we didn't have to travel so much, it'd be easier. Well, I guess... I guess Lucrezia overheard us, 'cause... things changed to where Bill started having a lot more time at home, and pretty soon, she told him she was pregnant."

"Wasn't that a good thing?" Judy asked, looking at Agatha sleeping peacefully in her car seat.

"Y—n—we-we _thought_ it was at the time. But then, in October, Lucrezia just... disappeared. Packed up, walked out, poof, gone. Bill about lost his mind. I suggested a private detective, but... Bill wouldn't hear of it. He insisted we try to find her ourselves. Promoted a few good people to take over for us, and..."

Blue light seemed to flash from Barry's eyes as he struggled for composure. But he was facing a window, and thunder rumbled right afterward, so Judy tried to convince herself it was only lightning reflecting in his glasses. Nothing else about his demeanor changed in the slightest.

"We chased her all over the country," he finally continued quietly. "Found out she'd been seen in Detroit with Aaron Sturmvoraus, the mobster, but she was gone by the time we got there. Finally, we... we caught up to her in January. In Mechanicsburg."

"And what happened?" Judy prompted.

Barry swallowed hard. "We checked the hospital first, 'cause we knew she was about to her due date and the Mongfishes weren't answering their phone. And we were right. She'd just had the baby that morning—and _left_ , didn't even check out AMA, didn't give her a name, anything. She'd just left Agatha in the nursery and walked out. Bill was furious. We stayed long enough for him to fill out the birth certificate and call the lawyers to name me her guardian in case anything happened, but then... h-he remembered this one place she'd liked to go back in high school, out in the woods outside of town. So we went, and there she was, with... I-I guess it was her coven. I dunno. They were doing some sort of ritual, preparing for a feast, and chanting to some goddess and—it was like something out of a B movie. I really didn't catch it all. But then... she said something about Lucifer rising, and something about 'now that the child is born,' and Bill... it... it all happened so _fast_..."

Again the blue flash. Again the thunder rolled.

"They killed each other," Barry went on, his voice barely audible. "Just—I don't even know how it happened."

Visibly fighting tears, Adam reached over and put a hand on Barry's shoulder.

"The police... called it an accident. Freak lightning strike—people'd seen it from town. And I... I..." Barry ripped his glasses off, buried his face in his hands, and wept.

Adam slid out of his chair to his knees and enveloped Barry in a hug; Judy moved over to sit beside Barry, wrap an arm around his back, and rest her head on her husband's arms. Bill had been their best friend for ages, had been best man at their wedding, had stood as Max's godfather and had even come to her confirmation despite the physical distance between their families. It was hard enough to fathom that he was gone, let alone... _this_ way.

"I sold the business," Barry finally sobbed into Adam's shoulder, and Judy was glad that Adam was only mute because he was still crying himself and wouldn't see if she'd had to interpret for him. "S-sold the house. Sold everything. Put it all in trust for Agatha." He hiccupped. "Probate took forever, and then... h-had to move, get away from that damn coven. That's why... why it took so long, why I didn't call."

Judy rubbed Barry's back gently and sat up. "You said you need our help."

Barry nodded, sat back, and grabbed a handful of tissues from the box Adam offered him. "Yeah," he said hoarsely, wiping his face and nose and putting his glasses back on. "Yeah, I, uh... I know this is a huge favor to ask, but... I wondered if you'd, um. Adopt Agatha from me."

Adam and Judy looked at each other, wide-eyed. "Barry!" Judy gasped. "Why?!"

"Look, Lucrezia—I don't understand it, but there was something specific about _her_ having a _daughter_ with _Bill_ that seemed ultra important to her and her coven, and it had nothing to do with Agatha as a person. I think I caught the word 'vessel' at one point, but I'm not really sure. But the point is, I need to find out what they were up to and find a way to stop it. I can't do that and take care of Agatha at the same time. She needs a stable home, a real family. And it... it might help to get her off their radar if she's Agatha _Clay_ —not that they're likely to know what Bill named her, unless they went to the hospital after I checked out with her, but they'll probably be looking for a girl with the name of Sanders."

 _Or Heterodyne_ , Judy thought but didn't say. Sanders would be the surname on Agatha's birth certificate, after all, and Judy still wasn't certain she believed the story Bill and Barry's mother had told about her first husband. The part about Saturn Heterodyne having been a Nazi war criminal was plausible enough, but the rest, about the battle goddess in the spring...

Adam looked worried. _Why you?_

Barry met his eyes. "Adam, I was _there_. I _know_ Lucrezia was doing something evil—supernatural evil— _end-of-the-world_ evil. And it involves Agatha. I've... I-I'm her only living relative. I have to protect her. And... I'm... I'm no good with kids. I've been taking care of her the best I can, but I can't... I can't do it as well as you and Judy raised Max. She's a great kid. I mean, since Klaus disappeared, you two are all I have left, but I truly can't think of anyone I trust with Agatha more. Certainly not myself," he added under his breath, looking away.

After a pause, Adam asked, _Barry, you okay?_

"No," Barry confessed quietly, looking down at the floor. "No, I'm not, and it's... not just grief. I mean, that, obviously, but... there's... it feels like there's something _in_ me—not like possession; more like... like a curse, maybe, or... something in my blood. Power, rage—I—I can't put my finger on it, don't understand it. And it... it _flares_ every so often, more when I'm tired or hurting or-or mad or scared, and... n-nothing dangerous has happened yet, but it's to the point that I really don't trust myself around Agatha. I don't want to risk hurting her, even by accident. If... if I ever lose control... I-I just... can't bear the thought."

While Judy was still considering what to say to that, Agatha started making waking-up noises. Judy picked her up while Barry went to get the diaper bag and Adam went off to another part of the house, and by the time Judy and Barry got Agatha fed and changed, Adam was beckoning them upstairs to the guest room, where he'd set up Max's old crib next to the spare bed.

Barry started crying again as Judy put Agatha down in the crib. "S-sh-she deserves so much... so much..."

 _Understand_ , Adam signed, unshed tears glittering in his own eyes. _But we do this for her. For you. For Bill._

And as Barry hugged him gratefully, Judy knew it was the right choice.

Barry stayed with them through Agatha's first birthday, which happened to be the same day the adoption was finalized. Apart from toys and clothes, and all the information they needed about Agatha's trust fund, he gave Adam and Judy two gifts to be held for Agatha until she was older: a small leather pouch with an odd-looking star on the front that had been Bill's, and a gold locket of Lucrezia's with Bill and Lucrezia's wedding picture in it. "There's really nothing else that's... that's an heirloom worth passing on," he explained, "not since Dad—well, Lucrezia got rid of a lot without asking either of us, gave stuff to uncles and cousins on the Sanders side and said she'd figured we wouldn't want it because we were adopted. And most of the pictures... I just... I don't want her to have no ties to us at all, but it... might be easier. For you. I mean, knowing." _Knowing how awful Lucrezia turned out to be_ seemed to be more than he could say, but Judy heard it anyway.

 _Understand_ , Adam replied, nodding. _Thank you._

Then the next day, after some tearful farewells and promises to keep in touch, Barry left... and never returned.


End file.
